John Snyder
- independent record producer, lawyer and former manager
of Chet Baker - shared his memories of Chet and helped us
locate Chetís colleagues. John is a busy man. Our
correspondence began in August of 1990, and we were not
able to arrange a time to talk until almost a year and on
half later.

Whitney
Balliett, jazz critic for the NEW YORKER, had just spent a
week with John in preparation for a profile. Our
conversation was relatively brief, because John was well
organized. However, our dialogue was punctuated with ,"I
wish I had told Whitney that".

JOHNíS
PROJECTS

John had a
number of projects underway. "Re-Birth of the Cool" is one
of the priority sessions on his schedule. Gerry Mulligan
will play baritone saxophone, Phil Woods, alto saxophone
(Lee Konitz was not available); John Lewis, piano; and
Wallace Roney, trumpet, will play the Miles Davis tracks.
This re-recording of one of the historic albums with
state-of-the-art technology is a benchmark in jazz. The
CBS Miles Davis reissues are being done by his company. He
has just produced the Harper Brothers and Bobby Short.
Frank Morganís recordings, "Mood Indigo" and "Lovesome
Thing" produced by John introduced Frank, one of the
hottest artists on the jazz circuit, to a wider audience.

"I recently
finished new records with George Shearing, Dizzy
Gillespie, Kenny Drew, Jr., Chris Hollyday, and Frank
Morganís - ĎYou Must Believe In Spring,í" said John.
Others are with Mel Torme, Count Basie/Joe Williams, Ahmad
Jamal, John Lewis and Perry Como. Look for reissues of
Thelonious Monk, and the Big Bands for BMG: Tommy Dorsey,
Glenn Miller, it. al. Blues records are also on the
agenda: Albert King, James Cotton, Lucky Peterson, and
Johnny Copeland, Big Daddy Kinsey, and Joe Lewis Walker
are some of the artists. He also has done the soundtrack
for "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge."

Some
recordings by artists from the Golden Age of Jazz are:
Chet Baker on "You Canít Go Home Again," "Once Upon a
Summertime," "The Best Think For You", Dave Brubeckís 25th
Anniversary Album; Paul Desmondís "Paul Desmond"; Max
Roach and Dizzy Gillespie - Paris 1989." He has had
numerous Grammy nominations and won for Thad Jones/Mel
Lewis - "Live in Munich."

RE-MIX
RE-MASTER

The
producerís job of arranging the session, coordinating the
choice of songs, making sure that the artists arrive on
time are obvious. The technical process of recording is
more difficult for the lay person to understand. I asked
what was involved in re-mixing and re-mastering. John is
gracious about helping me understand, but notes, "This is
a very superficial explanation: The Miles Davis tapes were
usually 4 tracks. The 2 track masters for LP monophonic
were compressed and EQed to accommodate the limitations of
the medium. The remastering process restores the tapes to
their original state in so far as possible. Then the tapes
are re-mixed and re-mastered to insure the best sound.
With digital technology the CDís are capable of
reproducing the sound more accurately from the restored
master."

NORTH
CAROLINA CONNECTIONS

Finding
people with North Carolina connections has been an
unexpected pleasure in my work with CHETí CHOICE, but
North Carolina Native, John Snyder has been the biggest
surprise of all. A DOWN BEAT article reported that he was
a native of Charlotte, NC. Although we works in New York,
his wife and 2 children still live in Charlotte. He was
home for the Christmas holidays when we arranged to talk
on the 3rd.

Johnís
career developed in a fortuitous if unpredictable way. He
attended The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
which began as a womanís college. He was in the first
class which admitted males, and only 12 guys lived on
campus. "Except for the Music Department, I found out what
it was like to be ignored. It was a very superficial
environment. The girls were there to learn how to teach a
few years and then get married. I had a trumpet
scholarship, and I went there to study with Thomas
Cousins. I ended up with Thomas Collins, but it was the
second semester before I realized who he was." Graduating
2nd in his class in the music school, he realized that he
was trained to be a high school band director, not a
professional trumpet player. He didnít want to be a band
director.

Since he had
studied criminal justice, one of his professors suggested
that he go to law school. In 1970 John entered the
University of North Carolina Law School at Chapel Hill.
Gradually John realized, "They werenít just giving you
information, they were teaching you what to think. I felt
that I didnít want to do that."

CAREER
DEVELOPMENT

In March of
his last year at Chapel Hill, he wrote a few New York City
law firms and Creed Taylor, producer, at CTI Records about
jobs. "I had every record Creed had made since Verve.
Creed Wrote, ĎCome on up." John answered, ĎAre you
kidding?í Creed assured his this was no joke. John drove
up to the Big Apple and what was to be the fulfillment of
his lifetime dream, a career in music . . .

The events
of that March weekend are etched in his memory. He
interviewed with the law firms, went to the Half Note,
then saw Creed. Creed played trumpet and had gone to Duke
University. (Duke in Durham and Carolina in Chapel Hill
are only about 10 miles apart. There is intense rivalry on
the athletic fields and courts, but like families-they
stick together against the outside world.)

DUKE AND
THE CAROLINA HOMEBOY

When John
walked in for his interview at CTI he discovered that all
100 employees were New Yorkers. John says, "I guess Creed
wanted a homeboy." Creed suggested that John finish law
school and come to work in June: he also asked that John
take the Bar Exam in New York.

"Everything
happened so quickly. When I got on that elevator to leave,
there were tears in my eyes." Since he had trained to be a
high school band director and a lawyer, neither of which
he wanted to be, I asked it he thought his education had
been helpful to him as a record producer. "Absolutely,
thatís what got me the job." Everything had come together
in a marvelous way.

ARTIST AND
PRODUCER

As a
performing artist and an attorney, he understands both the
artistic and business sides of the music industry. "Creed
moved me around in every Division. I got to see it all
because I was working as Creedís Assistant. CTI folded. I
had to get a job, and Herb Alpert of A&M hired me to found
the Horizon label. The record Companies thought I knew all
Creedís secrets, and I did. Creedís philosophy was Creed
knew best and they were just musicians. Artists wanted to
play with their own bands, but Creed would hire a group he
chose. The artist would be expected to come in to the
session and play the solo. Creedís records sold so artists
conformed to his wishes rather than their own."

One artist
lamented to John, "I drive all night to get here, Iím dead
tired. The arranger has to sing the songs to me because I
donít know them. Then the record becomes a hit and I have
to play it over, and over, and over again. As a musician,
John believes that producing a record is a collaborative
undertaking. He involves the artist in choosing the songs
and the musicians.

GET ME
CHET BAKER

John was
instrumental in Chetís signing with CTI. About the time
John came to New York, Chet began his come back following
the infamous beating and lengthy adjustment to dentures. A
friend who had recorded Chet playing at a New Jersey club
shared the tape with John because they were both big Chet
fans. John thought the tape was terrific. "I asked Creed
to record Chet for about five months, and Creed said ĎNoí.
A woman at a cocktail party asked Creed, ĎWhatís happened
to Chet Baker?í Creed called me and said, ĎGet me Chet
Baker.í He hired Don Sebesky to do the arrangements and
set up a session. What I couldnít do in five months; she
did in one night."

"She Was Too
Good To Me," is the title song on one of Chetís CTI
albums. John didnít produce this album, but he was working
at CTI when it was made. I wondered it Chet had picked the
song because this is a very obscure Rogers and Hart ballad
which was cut from the Broadway Musical, "Simple Simon",
and originally titled "He Was Too Good To Me." John
thought the arranger, Don Sebesky, picked it, but notes
that Chet quickly made it his own. He believes that "Funk
in a Deep Freeze" is the only number Chet picked for this
recording.

John was
Chetís manager for several years and produced "The Best
Thing For You," "You Canít Go Home Again," and "Once Upon
a Summertime."

CHET
STORIES

I asked if
he had any Chet Stories, he remembers several incidents
which are uniquely Chet. When Chet was in Italy he met
Romano Mussolini, jazz pianist. Romanoís father Benito the
Dictator, had been publicly hanged at the end of World War
II. Chet wanted to acknowledge Romanoís loss, but this was
a difficult situation. Chet managed it with his own
combination of jazzman cool and Oklahoma concern. "íHey
man, it was a drag about your old man.í"

Chet could
be surprisingly thoughtful when he wanted to be. "I gave
him my flugelhorn, and five or six years later he returned
it saying he didnít use it." This was an unexpected
gesture since several of Chetís instruments had been lost,
stolen, or pawned.

John wanted
to record Chet and Art Pepper redo the Playboy album. That
never happened. Art had a falling out with Chet. "Art
believed that Chet copped on somebody to get out of going
to jail himself." I asked if Art ever ratted on anyone
because in his book STRAIGHT LIFE, he made such a deal of
never having done that. John said, "No, Art was very
self-righteous about that"

MEMORIES
OF CHET

There was a
note of wistfulness in Johnís voice as we concluded, and
he thought of what might have been: "I regret not
recording Chet every day, he was one of those Masters. I
did another tape which I think is down South in my wifeís
closet . . .

He
wasnít at all the pathetic character everybody
liked to see in him. He didnít think himself
pathetic, absolutely not! This was his life, this
was what he had chosen. The drugs too. It was a
fact of life, nothing more and nothing less. And
he didnít mind traveling from hotel to hotel with
a couple of bags, or sleeping on the floor at a
friendís or acquaintanceís occasionally. He was a
Gypsy till his last night.

Of
course you had to look after him. When he was to
perform at some place, and was staying at the
hotel so-an-so far away, you had to see to it that
he was on the stage at such and such time. Usually
it did work. Sometimes you had to pick him up and
drive over to the hall. Sometimes he was not to be
found and then you had to try and find out on the
grapevine where exactly he was hanging out. that
could be sweaty hours now and then. He himself
always remained . . . cool.

He
remained cool when he was to perform at Verona,
had to drive from Brussels to Verona and somewhere
near Munchen found that he had forgotten his
trumpet. Big Deal. He simply drove back to
Brussels to pick up the thing. Then, of course,
you needed to race, fly and organize. A private
plane had to be chartered in Milan, to get him to
Verona in time. And of course this time everything
fell out well again. Or when he was going to tour
Japan. He was still in Rome in some hotel while he
should have been on the plane already. He hadnít
even applied for a visa. Again everybody was into
a state. What nonsense. That visa can be arranged
in a minute and heíd simply take the next plane.
One day later he was in Japan, perfectly cool, and
that same night he played fabulously.

Yes,
he was having a hard time now and then. Then he
was, fairís fair, not so cool. Had to do with that
stuff, of course. You could already hear how
matters stood through the phone. He was
unpredictable on such occasions. You sometimes had
to come with him to get hold of the stuff. He did
have his regular addresses but still like someone
who was straight to come with him. Just to be
sure. But for the rest it was: let me get on with
it. In Italy he played on the streets to pay for
the petrol for his expensive sportscar. He didnít
mind. He had been world famous for two decades
when he took on a job as pump attendant in
Oklahoma because he was rather hard up. He really
didnít mind.

On
that particular night it was the same old song
again. Where is Chet, guys? No? He will probably
be there again. He does know, doesnít he, that he
is to play with Archie Shepp in TROS Sesjun
tonight?

Panic again. Phoning everywhere. Somebody seen
Chet? No? When you see him, tell him we are
waiting for him.

Reprinted with permission from TIMELESS RECORDS
Catalogue.

(Ed Note: Upon
reading this piece Carol Baker stated that she had
never known of Chet playing on the street for
money.)